Northamptonshire Substance to Solution (STS)

Updated 30 August 2019

Change Grow Live, Substance to Solution, is part of the of the national Change Grow Live provider that provide a not-for-profit drug and alcohol treatment service. Change Grow Live have been providing substance misuse services in Northamptonshire since 1 February 2013, after being awarded the contract to deliver services by Northamptonshire Public Health Team. Change Grow Live are a registered charity, delivering community-based services across England, Wales and Scotland.

Substance misuse services in Northamptonshire, were previously provided by Crime Reduction Initiatives (CRI) from the CQC registered location of Stuart Road, from March 2013. Change, Grow, Live (CGL) changed its name from CRI in April 2016. Substance misuse services were then delivered to Northamptonshire, from a regional office in London, registered with the CQC. In January 2019, Northamptonshire Substance to Solution (STS) was re-registered with the CQC on 8 January 2019 as its own location.

Northamptonshire Substance to Solution has not been inspected before as a standalone location. However, an inspection was carried out in October 2016 of the Northamptonshire location when registered to the London regional office. That inspection was not rated.

Services provided by Northamptonshire Substance to Solution include prescribed opioid substitution therapy, alcohol detoxification, psychological therapies, and social and harm reduction interventions. Attendance is voluntary unless ordered by the courts within the criminal justice system. It also provides support to adults, children and families who have been affected by someone close to them using.

Change Grow Live offer one-to-one key work sessions, group work (psychological and social interventions), opioid substitution therapy, alcohol detoxification and opportunities for peer support. Brief interventions, structured group work, prescribing, harm minimisation, needle exchange and psychological interventions including cognitive behavioural therapy.

As part of the recovery process, people coming for structured treatment are comprehensively assessed by a recovery or key worker, and medically assessed by a doctor or non-medical prescriber (where appropriate).

There are four main locality hubs; Northampton, Kettering, Corby, and Wellingborough. Services are also provided in Daventry and Brackley.

The service provides interventions and support for clients of all ages.

Each hub has three specialist teams, an opiate team, alcohol team, and non-opiate team.

Updated 30 August 2019

• The provider had robust health and safety processes in place to provide clients with community-based substance misuse services. Clients received a comprehensive assessment in a timely manner which included a physical health assessment.
• Clients had robust risk management plans in place which staff reviewed every three months or more frequently where required. Staff were able to identify signs of deteriorating mental health.
• All locality hubs had a range of appropriate rooms to meet clients. The clinical rooms were clean, well-stocked and regularly reviewed by the clinical lead nurse. Staff had access to Naloxone (Naloxone is used to reverse the effects of opioids).
• The provider had robust policies, procedures and training related to medication and medicines management. These included: prescribing, detoxification and assessing client’s tolerance to medication. Staff adhered to infection control principles, including handwashing and the disposal and storage of clinical waste.
• There was enough staff at all grades, with the right skills and experience to meet the needs of the clients. Staff had received mandatory training and received training relevant for their role.
• The service had a robust process for the recording, investigation and learning from incidents. There was evidence of learning from incidents that had been embedded in practice.
• There were robust governance systems in place to effectively manage the service. Managers had the right skills and experience to provide leadership and had good oversight of the service. Performance was monitored, and the outcomes were recorded on key performance indicator dashboards. This meant the manager could monitor performance over a period to ensure continuous improvement. Managers communicated the results to staff.

However:

• There was no glucometer (to test client’s blood glucose) in Wellingborough.
• Not all complaints had been acknowledged within the providers agreed time frame of five working days.

Updated 30 August 2019